"Hybrid" - Mixed PVE & PVP Server

[Old_PVP]

Hey Red pals,

I want a PVP server with 1000+ pop! "Hybrid" might be the answer. Read below for more details. Fair warning, it’s a long read.

Originally posted to Green / Blue. However, I realized that Red is the most forward-thinking forum and some people may not read all forums.

LONG TERM GOAL: Roll out a fresh Hybrid server. Once it reaches the end of timeline – merge all servers into Hybrid, or just merge Red & Blue into it. Reduces overall infrastructure costs & equipment down to 1 - 2 servers. Enables easier long-term management for the staff. Stays true to classic with all components, just mixed from different rulesets into one.

[Old_PVP]

New Server Concept - PVE/P


Gather round fellow adventurers and pull up a chair. We currently have 3 servers on Project99, some with different rulesets. Surely there must be 1 ruleset to rule them all? One server where different playstyles can coexist in the same environment. Now hear me out...it could be possible.

One thing is for certain, PVP needs some love. However, the MOST important thing to a PVP server is numbers. Healthy server population numbers to be exact. But how you ask? NOBODY likes murdering others in EverQuest, surely!! But that isn't exactly the case now is it? I am continually perplexed when I see so many blues & greens get excited over Best of the Best tournaments. This was also the case in EQ live days...bluebie servers were loving the chance to kill their fellows in The Arena. You Blue & Green players do have an inner killer waiting to be unleashed... you just need the proper motivation. So, Red players actually need you Blue & Green players in order to create a healthy population. To create that PK / Anti-PK dynamic which worked so well on Rallos Zek. How do we get players that don't like PVP into PVP situations? I'm glad you asked! PIXELS baby!

Ok, hold on to your pants and picture this. Disable Legacy items from dropping off their traditional mobs, forever...thus disabling the legacy rat race. Instead, give Legacy items, Pre-nerfed items, items that no longer drop & even some raid items as rewards for PVP tournaments/events. Even rewards like firepot binding.

LEGACY ITEMS / EVENTS - Host PVP events regularly, they don't have to be huge, even small events will yield some lesser rewards. There can be many forms of PVP events. Best of the Best per class, group matches, guild matches stretching across a designated zone. The events don't always have to take place in The Arena either, the staff could "turn on" the PVP for a certain zone and hold an all out bloodbath event with great rewards. The idea is planned PVP would always be happening and players that want to participate can be richly rewarded. Those that don't want to participate can go on their merry way. Legacy items would never "stop dropping" or ever become a fixed & ever dwindling amount, as new items would be rewarded over time, via events. Some of these items would still be purchaseable for insane amounts of platinum if people ever wanted to sell them.

BUT WAIT...There's more! Before all this talk of PVP scares you blues off...let's be clear: this server would be primarily PVE. In fact, most of the zones would be your traditional PVE zones. Some zones however, would be FFA (free for all) PVP. These zones would not be necessary connecting zones or banking zones and could be avoided entirely if one chooses! However, with risk comes great rewards...

HOT ZONES - For the brave adventurers that chose to level in these handful of FFA zones (most likely some dungeons) - the ZEM bonus would be insane, similar if not better to Red's current group exp bonus (290%) - staff discretion to increase that to attract even more people. Also the drops would be greatly increased in terms of raw plat / gems. These specially designated zones could even be on a rotating schedule much like hot zones back on live. This accomplishes a few things: It gives life to an underutilized corner of the world by incentivizing people with huge ZEM bonus / loot. It helps to keep world PVP relevant and satiate the random PKer's desire for bloodlust and grief. It keeps the world interesting and always changing by regularly revolving the massive ZEM bonus zones. Now, there does need to be incentive for the PKs to show up to these zones and actually attempt to kill people, or they might just group up and join in on the riches! That incentive is COIN. If you die, (remember there are only a handful of zones this can happen in) you will lose the coins that you are carrying. Risk vs. Reward. On the flip side, you can attempt to kill the PK and steal his coins! If that is not your cup of tea though, you can always choose to level at a more leisurely pace (without the massive ZEM bonus) in the PVE zones.

RAIDING - At least 1 of the high end raid zones needs to be FFA to encourage high end guild warfare. We could possibly even utilize the "Guild War" command to allow guilds that want more PVP to have that option. Other raid zones could still be PVE, utilizing some player agreed upon rotation schedule. However, to incentivize guilds into resolving their disputes through bloodshed, the staff could make it so that guilds that are currently at war with 3 or more other guilds, (certain parameters would need to be in place to avoid exploitation) would have a higher frequency on rotation schedules. Once again, Risk vs. Reward...the concept that is foundational to many great games. A guild that chooses to live a little riskier and be at war with multiple targets could potentially reap the benefits.

Most of you people want PVP, you just want it on your terms. When you feel like it, when you are buffed & prepared, and most of all just for the fun of it. On this server, you can avoid PVP entirely if you don't want it at all! You can craft, tunnelquest, level with friends and PVP be damned! Hot FFA zones will eventually rotate, and turn back into PVE zones, so you won't forever be shut out from your favorite dungeon. For those that want their chance at Legacy items, they can join in on fun tournaments & events. PKers can still get their fix by hunting players or groups that dare to venture into the super profitable zones, or if nobody enters, they can profit off those zones themselves! Guild warfare and politics could become the norm in the high end scene, with players governing themselves... which would help free up staff to run more & more cool events. (and not just PVP events)


I am curious to hear the Green & Blue community's thoughts on this proposal. Would this be something that anyone is interested in?

[Old_PVP]

Other thoughts:

Let’s be honest, even most RED people don’t want to be PVPing all the time. This is one of the reasons servers focused too heavily only on PVP fail. Too many wolves, not enough sheep. We need blues… and we need a ruleset they would likely play. There will still be plenty of opportunities for PVP on Hybrid. A lot of PKs like to log into their favorite haunt, and get a few kills and log out. Hybrid would be perfect for that with its FFA hot zones.

EverQuest min/max nerds are usually the ones going for server firsts – and this is another reason super hot zones are good. This will tempt more people into the FFA zones to earn that increased exp in order to compete for server firsts, which means more PVP for us.

Enable casino system in game to eat large amounts of plat in exchange for cool rewards, some to include Legacy items. This gives an alternative path to earning Legacy without having to attend PVP events, also improves server economy.

The Casino system works well in conjunction with the super hot zones with their increased money drops. Players will be tempted to farm the best plat per hour from super hot zones, which means more PVP for us.

Personal reputations might be worth something again! A server like this could create the PK / Anti-PK dynamic causing known PKs to become shunned from the PVE community, which is awesome!

FFA zones and 1 FFA raid zone could be on a 3 month rotating schedule with unique titles to earn from competing in them. ToV might be the FFA raid zone for 3 months, then it is Kael, then Plane of Growth etc.


Title System:

Cool titles, along with rewards can be awarded via the traditional method of completing tournaments / events.

Other unique titles could only be awarded based on PVP performance and broken down into a tiered system:

10 murders will allow the PK the option to show a red name instead of default blue. (This would be purely aesthetic and would still not allow you to kill in PVE zones.)

Each tier may require a certain amount of confirmed PVP kills in that designated zone. Remember, FFA zones would be cyclical, so it could possibly take years to accumulate the required kills for the hard titles, cause a particular zone you are working towards might not go FFA for another 6 months. Each FFA zone would award their own title, ie. Lackey of Guk, Lackey of Runnyeye etc.

Examples of titles:
• Easy titles (Lackey of Mistmoore?) – 25 kills? in Mistmoore
• Mid titles (Agent of Mistmoore?) – 100 kills? in Mistmoore
• Hard titles (Slayer of Mistmoore?) – 500 kills? in Mistmoore
• Insane titles (Mistmoore Murderer?) – 2000 kills? in Mistmoore

The biggest red nerds who go for the gold and want to earn ALL the hardest tier titles for every dungeon would then be awarded some type of legendary title. This would obviously be super rare to see someone accomplish this feat.

• Nilbog the Dreadlord of Death

Or something equally cool. Titles of course are purely aesthetic. They would allow PKs to show off their prestige & hard work and also help to shun them from the PVE community.

[magnetaress]

I like this. In general.

I also want Firiona style PvE/Rp. Hard-coded teams tho. Maybe just make it so u have to flag pvp like warmode to even engage certain mobs on a rotation. Town criers would shout out these mobs name. Maybe once the pvp version is down a PvE version spawms within 24hrs. Game needs an a more robust openworld arena mode. Hot zone pvp is awesome. Or u only get the bonus if flagged pvp. I would still want the ability to turn in the book and flag pvp everywhere on or off at major cities.